Voila! AAP is exactly like all other parties!

When the Aam Aadmi Party burst onto the scene, then it sold itself as a party with a difference. It tried to portray itself something totally progressive when compared to all the other politicians of the land. However on more than one occasion, it has found itself agreeing with politicians cutting across all parties…Kejriwal and SP opposed Government Lokpal…

Indian politics saw the strange sight of the ruling party (Congress), the principal Opposition (BJP) and the leader of the anti-corruption movement (Anna Hazare) agreeing over the passage of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament and that is exactly what happened.

It was a landmark moment in Indian history, for the bill had been hanging for decades and at least it came into effect in some form or the other.However the only sore point in the Lok Sabha was the opposition of the Samajwadi Party. The SP fought against it tooth and nail and disrupted Parliament over the issue.

However the SP was not alone. Even Arvind Kejriwal opposed this bill strongly and Kumar Vishwas went on record saying that anyone supporting the government bill was a gaddaar (traitor). It was a long journey for Anna being called a Mahatma Gandhi in 2011 and indirectly a traitor by his own supporter in 2013!

Khurshid and Yadav agree on more reservations…

When we got Independence, then we went in for caste based reservations. These were ramped up after the Mandal Commission agitations of 1990. People thought that the matter ended there and we would have no more reservations (difficult when reservations come in the range of 50%).

However Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid called for even more quotas during an election rally some time back and the Congress tried to push for the same without much success.

Now Yogendra Yadav also wants more reservations on the basis of caste. Previously he said that it was under discussion in the AAP but now Yadav claims they have great clarity on the issue and will push for more quotas.

Shiv Sena and Sisodia believe in sons of the soil…

In Maharashtra the Shiv Sena has been arguing for donkey’s years that more jobs and posts should be reserved for locals. That has been a bulwark of their policy and they have led many agitations over the same. Many regional parties all across India share such views.

Now Education Minister Manish Sisodia is for reserving 90% of seats in Delhi University colleges (those that are completely funded by the government that is) for the residents of Delhi!

AAP and Congress agree on Delhi government…

Kejriwal had grandly declared that he would never take the support of the Congress just some time back. He even said after the Delhi Assembly verdict that the BJP and Congress should form the government together since they share the same ideology.

Now that the AAP and Congress have got together to form the government in Delhi (outside support is electoral support all the same), does it mean, by Kejriwal’s own logic, that the two parties share the same ideology?

All parties (including AAP) don’t want Modi as PM...

In 1977, all the non-Congress parties united to see that Indira Gandhi wouldn’t continue as PM. In 1989, all the non-Congress parties united to see that Rajiv Gandhi wouldn’t continue as PM.

In 2014, we have the curious position of all the non-BJP parties united to see that Narendra Modi doesn’t become PM. Curious because Modi has absolutely no say in the national policies of the last 10 odd years.

Now when AAP jumped into the fray you would have expected them (since they claim to be totally different) to avoid this issue and oppose all parties equally and take a consistent stand on corruption.

However the AAP has jumped into the bandwagon in Modi bashing and paying lip service to the corruption of the Congress.

The league of austere CMs…

CPM’s Manik Sarkar in Tripura. BJP’s Manohar Parrikar in Goa. Trinamool’s Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. These are three CMs who have led austere lives without making a show about it.

Kejriwal is merely following their footsteps and may even be less austere than them, but still the media is beating the drum on how different Kejriwal is.

Bonus…Bhushan and Pakistan agree on Kashmir…

Prashant Bhushan’s latest views on Kashmir are pretty tame. Check YouTube videos and you will find him making even more alarming statements in the past. Like in one he says that a plebiscite should be conducted in Kashmir and if the people vote to break away, then they should be allowed to break away!

Add to that their sympathetic views on Naxalism and it’s a very dangerous cocktail indeed! You will also find an ideological similarity between the AAP and Karl Marx.